BWF World Junior C’ships, SF as it happened: Sankar Muthusamy reaches final after impressive win

Match summary:

Sankar Muthusamy became only the second boys singles player from India to reach the BWF World Junior Championships final when he defeated Thailand’s Panitchapon Teeraratsakul in straight games at Santandar, Spain, on Saturday.

The former junior world No 1 was in control for most of the the 40-minute clash, winning 21-13, 21-15.

Sankar, who had won a marathon 90-minute quarterfinal against China Hu Zhe An, showed little sign of any fatigue as he controlled the rallies brilliantly against his giant-killing Thai opponent who had also defeated a Chinese shuttler in the last eight.

He will now aim to become only the second Indian after 2008 winner Saina Nehwal to be crowned world junior champion. 

In the summit clash, he will face Kuo Kuan Lin of Chinese Taipei who defeated South Korea’s Byung Jae Kim.

Siril Verma came close to claiming the junior men’s single title in 2015. Aparna Popat (1996) and Saina Nehwal (2006, 2008) were the other Indians to reach the world junior finals in the past. Gurusaidutt, HS Prannoy, Sameer Verma, B Sai Praneeth, Lakshya Sen have won bronze.

— via BAI media

Men’s singles: Sankar will face the winner of KUO Kuan Lin (TPE) vs Byung Jae KIM (KOR). Those two have met in the Badminton Asia Junior U17 & U15 Championships 2018 final (MS U15) which the former won.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 21-13, 21-15 Panitchaphon: INTO THE FINAL! Sankar has done it, he will go for the title of junior world champion, to try and emulate what Saina Nehwal did in 2008. Solid, solid performance from the Indian youngster.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 21-13, 20-15 Panitchaphon: Match points for the Indian!

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 21-13, 19-15 Panitchaphon: Maybe a little bit of calm descending on the Thai here, played that rally with a freeness. Sankar dives to get one back, the Thai puts it in empty space. Serve back with him, now or never.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 21-13, 18-14 Panitchaphon: Little fist pump from Sankar, as Panitchapon nets a backhand.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 21-13, 18-14 Panitchaphon: Look like the fight is going out of the Thai youngster... as I say that, pulls out a superb precise overhead winner. And kills the short lift at net next point.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 21-13, 16-12 Panitchaphon: Couple of rallies now have gone again Sankar’s way, as the Thai looks for some killer angles. The finish line in sight for Sankar.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 21-13, 14-12 Panitchaphon: Slowly but steadily, the Thai is pumping himself up and keeping himself in this match.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 21-13, 12-9 Panitchaphon: Sankar is very lucky there, for starters he was on the floor after getting his legs tangled up and was never going to get the shuttle back. And then the Thai’s push is called out and replays show it was well in. He is not happy there.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 21-13, 11-8 Panitchaphon: Sankar Muthusamy has the lead at the second game interval too, with his Thai opponent physically struggling a bit as well now.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 21-13, 9-7 Panitchaphon: What a sensational rally! 57 shots by my quick calculation (give or take a couple). Sankar Muthusamy comes out on top as Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul hits it wide. Both players ran to all corners in that marathon rally and it was the Indian who held on.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 21-13, 8-6 Panitchaphon: And the first 2-point lead of game 2 goes to Sankar.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 21-13, 6-5 Panitchaphon: A rare short point finished off with power and precision by Sankar, lovely overhead down the line.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 21-13, 4-4 Panitchaphon: There again, short lift from Sankar and smashed with vengeance by the Thai. But the rally next up results in an error from him.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 21-13, 3-3 Panitchaphon: There is the first real long rally of the second game and once again it goes Sankar’s way. Panitchaphon’s best bet seems to be to take the shuttle early and go for the kill.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 21-13 Panitchaphon: The commentator sums it up well at the end. The scoreline doesn’t reflect how close that was. The early part of the match was superbly contested but the rallies got longer, Sankar grew stronger. The Thai shuttler had frustrations with some of the calls, and from there, seem to lose focus a bit.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 17-12 Panitchaphon: The Thai shuttler, not for the first time, frustrated by a line call on Sankar’s side. Oh happens again, he is not a happy chap at the moment. The last one looked in his favour, to be honest. But no reviews and all.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 15-10 Panitchaphon: Pattern emerging where the longer rallies are going Sankar’s way. Panitchaphon seems a little gassed already.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 11-9 Panitchaphon: Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul wins a couple of points but Sankar Muthusamy manages to take a lead to the interval. Not much to choose between the two shuttlers yet, some fine shot-making already by both. A marathon rally there, both players think they have won the point but it landed wide from THA.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 10-9 Panitchaphon: It looked like Sankar will go into the interval with a good lead but the Thai shuttler has closed the gap down.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 9-6 Panitchaphon: With very little to go by in terms of previous knowledge about their opponents at this level, I imagine there is a little bit of adjusting phase for both. They’d have some of each other here at the tournament for sure. For starters, two lefties in itself is a rarity at most levels. The Thai seems the more attacking player, with more weapons but Sankar’s rallying well as he did yesterday.

Men’s singles SF, Sankar 5-4 Panitchaphon: We are underway in Santander. A battle of the lefties. Both of them off to a confident start, really.

Here’s how they got this far. Sankar has played one match fewer, having a bye early on but he is coming off

Sankar to BWF after semifinals: “It was quite tough,” said the junior world No.4, who’d started out quick and attacking, but fell back on his natural rallying style once his opponent started hustling him. “In the second game I was not in a good patch initially, so I slowed it down in the second since he was getting tired. Towards the middle of the third game his tiredness started showing and that was a boost for me. I’m fine for tomorrow’s match. I’m used to training for such long matches as I’m a defensive player, but I’ve also been trying to attack more.”

Men’s singles semifinal, Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian vs Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul: This is the matchup to decide the first finalists. Sankar will become only the fourth Indian after Aparna Popat, Saina Nehwal and Siril Verma to reach the final at Junior Worlds if he can win this.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the BWF World Junior Championships 2022 in Santander, Spain.

Sankar Muthusamy will take on Thailand’s Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul in the final four. The latter defeated another Chinese shuttler. Top seed Alex Lanier is out.

Quarterfinals: 

Former Junior World No. 1 S Sankar Muthusamy assured India of a BWF World Junior Championships medal after he defeated China’s Hu Zhen An to reach the semifinal in Santander, Spain on Friday.

The left-hander seeded fourth, held his nerves despite losing the second game rather easily to beat his Chinese opponent 21-18, 8-21, 21-16 in an hour and 31 minutes in the men’s singles quarterfinals. 

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— via BAI Media

Screenshots in the blog courtesy BWF TV / Tournament Software